Her story is an important piece of the Black Freedom Struggle because it tells the story of what the African Americans had to go through, the fight they had to put up just to have rights, the hell and beatings and misery they had to go endure just to be able to stand up for themselves and to have rights. She was just a normal black lady who grew up in poverty like so many others did and so many others can relate to her. It's important because it's detailed and tells a story and it's like you are right there reliving the misery with her. It is an example of how hard the African Americans worked to make the world a better place and to take care of one another, and how they got disrespected for it and how they were not appreciated, instead were beaten and killed. I can't ever imagine being violent towards a person at all, and can't see how people could actually act out these horrible acts of violence.
- Sep 2020
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What stands out to me about her testimony is the details of it. She does not leave any detail out about what has happened to her, and she sounds like a very well educated woman in her testimony. She sounds strong willed and determined and I feel so bad for her for what she and so many other African Americans had to endure. So many were scared to stand up for their rights, and it shows she would stop at nothing to stand up for herself and others. She was beaten to a near death experience and she still stood up for herself and every other African American. She didn't have to but she did it because it was the right moral thing to do. She is definitely a hero in my books!
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Those are the things we propose to do. “Every Man a King.” Every man to eat when there is something to eat; all to wear something when there is something to wear. That makes us all a sovereign.
He is saying all people should be able to eat and have clothes to wear and uses the phrase every man should feel like a king, not just the wealthy.
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We have to limit fortunes. Our present plan is that we will allow no one man to own more that $50,000,000. We think that with that limit we will be able to carry out the balance of the program. It may be necessary that we limit it to less than $50,000,000. It may be necessary, in working out of the plans that no man’s fortune would be more than $10,000,000 or $15,000,000. But be that as it may, it will still be more than any one man, or any one man and his children and their children, will be able to spend in their lifetimes; and it is not necessary or reasonable to have wealth piled up beyond that point where we cannot prevent poverty among the masses.
He believes that if ones wealth is limited to 50,000 so that there will be plenty of money to go around for everyone, and if there isn't enough to go around then ones wealth might need to be lowered. He is saying why should one have so much money just sitting there piled up while people are going without. He believes that is not helping out one another with wealth just sitting there being unused.
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We do not propose to divide it up equally. We do not propose a division of wealth, but we propose to limit poverty that we will allow to be inflicted upon any man’s family. We will not say we are going to try to guarantee any equality, or $15,000 to a family. No; but we do say that one third of the average is low enough for any one family to hold, that there should be a guarantee of a family wealth of around $5,000; enough for a home, an automobile, a radio, and the ordinary conveniences, and the opportunity to educate their children; a fair share of the income of this land thereafter to that family so there will be no such thing as merely the select to have those things, and so there will be no such thing as a family living in poverty and distress.
He is saying poverty should be limited and there is no reason why one should have to go without the necessities of life, like a home, car, and the basics to live and function. A child should not have to go without a home or an education.
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Now, we have organized a society, and we call it “Share Our Wealth Society,” a society with the motto “Every Man a King.” Every man a king, so there would be no such thing as a man or woman who did not have the necessities of life, who would not be dependent upon the whims and caprices and ipsi dixit [unproved assertion] of the financial barons for a living. What do we propose by this society? We propose to limit the wealth of big men in the country. There is an average of $15,000 in wealth to every family in America. That is right here today.
He is saying that there should be a limit on the amount of wealth a person can have that away one does not have to go without.
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Now, my friends, if you were off on an island where there were 100 lunches, you could not let one man eat up the hundred lunches, or take the hundred lunches and not let anybody else eat any of them. If you did, there would not be anything else for the balance of the people to consume.
He is saying why are we letting one have so much while others have none.
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Is that, my friends, giving them a fair shake of the dice or anything like the inalienable right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or anything resembling the fact that all people are created equal; when we have today in America thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of children on the verge of starvation in a land that is overflowing with too much to eat and too much to wear?
He is saying why are so many wealthy with plenty to go around yet children are starving and this does not demonstrate equality, it demonstrates selfishness and greediness.
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We hold the view that all men are created equal.” Now, what did they mean by that? Did they mean, my friends, to say that all men are created equal and that that meant that any one man was born to inherit $10,000,000,000 and that another child was to be born to inherit nothing? Did that mean, my friends, that someone would come into this world without having had an opportunity, of course, to have hit one lick of work, should be born with more than it and all of its children and children’s children could ever dispose of, but that another one would have to be born into a life of starvation?
He is saying that the Declaration of Independence states all men should be created equal except that is not what is happening. There are so many wealthy with plenty to go around, yet people and children are starving, and that is not equality.
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I took DuBois speech to mean he thought Booker T. was accepting that the Negro races were inferior to the whites. I took it as he thought Booker T. was saying a black person can only survive if they submit and give up to the white people. I do not think that is what Booker T. was trying to say at all, and I enjoyed the point Booker T. was trying to make, and thought it was all true and valid and really important to come together during this time.
Locke and Ben Wright, "The American Yawp Reader" in Unit 2, Lesson 2.2
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Booker T. is speaking of equality, and uses a ship lost at sea as an example. He is saying if someone is willing to help you out, then why not take the help. In his speech he uses taking water when the vessel is stranded and they are dying of thirst. I love Booker T. speech and 100 percent agree with him. He is saying we all need one another to survive, and that has been proven in history from the blacks caring for the whites, and the whites helping the blacks in return. Booker T. explains that the black people have been given a chance beyond slavery, they have been given a chance to work and make money and use their minds. He explains that they were once at the bottom and have worked long and hard to get away from the bottom. He is saying things can only get better from here. He speaks to the whites and blacks about accepting one another and being equal and helping out one another. He tells the white people that they have depended on the black people for everything they have. They wouldn't have their railroads built, their children and loved ones taken care of without them, and that the South would not be the south without them. I 100 percent agree with him, and agree that it was time for peace and everyone to come together as equal. Why not lend out a helping hand and make the world a better place, help out one another instead of being against each other.
Locke and Ben Wright, "The American Yawp Reader" in Unit 2, Lesson 2.2
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